© Columbia University Press
The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics
Paper, 288 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13819-2
$24.50
/ £17.00
September, 2006
Cloth, 288 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13818-5
$32.50
/ £22.50
"A very timely ethnography of Islam in general and Egypt in specific." — Kambiz Kamrani, Anthropology.net
"The relevance of this analytic project to readers both within and outside the academy cannot be underestimated." — Ilan Pappe, Arab Studies Journal
"This stimulating book offers a sustained argument and excellent, accessible ethnography for specialists of Islamic politics and media alike." — International Journal of Middle East Studies
"The Ethical Soundscape provides a timely update to this important genre of Muslim expression." — Flagg Miller, Contemporary Islam
"Hirschkind touches on some of the most charged issues of our time. He writes with both sympathy and analytic clarity. But where others bog down in reductive notions such as 'belief,' 'fundamentalism,' and 'modernity,' Hirschkind attends to the concrete forms of the Islamic revival. By concentrating on the circulation of sermon forms—including the practices of listening to them—Hirschkind has written a book that will be essential reading for anyone interested in religion, secularism, media, and the public sphere." — Michael Warner, Board of Governors Professor of English, Rutgers University, and author of Publics and Counterpublics
"Charles Hirschkind has drawn on a growing body of literature on the senses, and on the theory of rhetoric and political theory, to present the reader with a complex and fascinating analysis. At one level this is a highly original account of the role of cassette sermons in contemporary Egypt, in which their content is related with unusual sensitivity to their embodied reception as well as to the learned tradition of Islam. At another level it is a powerful argument for relating the work of moral and religious cultivation of the self to larger questions about the politics of the public sphere in Muslim-majority countries. No one who is interested in understanding that heterogeneous movement beyond familiar clichés can ignore the argument presented by this beautiful study." — Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center, and author of Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity
"A sensitive listener, Hirschkind writes in a way that conveys the inner life of counterpublics in Egypt to those of us who could not otherwise hear their voices. This is an indispensable book." — William E. Connolly, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, and author of Pluralism